The Artistic Practice of Angèle Verret

Based in Montreal, Angèle Verret works as a visual artist and painter. Her practice has been shaped by a long-standing interest in photography, a direction she began following in the early 1990s. This interest does not lead her to abandon the brush, but rather to create a tension between different ways of seeing. Her images often exist in a space of uncertainty, where the viewer is left to question if they are looking at a painted surface or a captured photograph.

The work of Angèle Verret relies on this ambiguity. She produces images that possess a quasi-photographic quality, a method that puts the gaze in doubt. There is a quiet struggle in her compositions between the pictorial and the photographic. By leaning into this doubt, she avoids simple representation, focusing instead on the way an image appears and then fades from view.

Technique and Artistic Style

The work focuses on the uncertain nature of the image. There is a deliberate absence of representation in many pieces. Instead, the surface becomes a site for layering slightly colored pigments. These layers are applied through a specific gestural movement, building up a physical presence on the support. This process creates a tactile quality, emphasizing the relief and the roughness of the surface. The goal is to paint what remains unseen, capturing the traces of gestures and the tension between what appears and what disappears.

There is a constant ambiguity between the pictorial and the photographic. Some surfaces are composed such that they can be read in the positive or the negative. This quality often refers to the visual logic of a photographic negative, yet the materiality of the pigment keeps the focus on the reality of the paint itself. The images do not settle into a single state; they exist in a space where the boundary between a captured moment and a painted surface remains blurred.

Exhibitions and Major Collections

The presence of Angèle Verret's work is felt in several significant institutional collections across Quebec. Her paintings are held by the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (MNBAQ), the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal (MBAM), Hydro-Québec, the Ville de Montréal, and Loto-Québec. These holdings place her practice within the public and corporate records of the region.

Her exhibition history includes several group shows that have brought her work into dialogue with other artists. She was part of the ELLES aujourd’hui exhibition at the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal (MBAM) between 2015 and 2016. Earlier, her work was included in Loin des yeux près du corps at Galerie de l’UQAM in 2011. She also participated in two exhibitions at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (MNBAQ): Chimère/Shimmer in 2010 and Avancer dans le broufog from 2004 to 2005.

Individual exhibitions have also defined her career. In 2003, she held an exhibition titled Angèle Verret : Co_ïncidence at Plein sud in Longueuil, Québec. More recently, her work was featured in the 2017 exhibition Se perdre en forêt at the galleries of Roger Bellemare and Christian Lambert.

Notable Works and Catalogued Pieces

The presence of her work in public collections provides a way to trace the development of her visual language. In the Musée Des Beaux, Québec City, one finds Also, They Have a Relationship with Darkness. This piece exists alongside other significant works that have been gathered by institutions such as the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, Hydro-Québec, and the Ville de Montréal. These collections hold the traces of her long-term engagement with the way light and pigment interact on a surface.

Looking at specific pieces, Figurer le gris was created in 2000. This work emerged from a period of research into the way pigments can be layered to create relief and texture. In 2010, the artist produced ...dire ce qu’il faut pour les rattacher..., an acrylic on canvas measuring 102 cm x 244 cm. That same year, she completed ...qui en découle..., (mondschein), a square acrylic work on canvas at 152 cm x 152 cm. These works show a consistent interest in the physical application of material and the way it holds a mark.

Later, between 2014 and 2015, she produced Lot 24 …écrire à peu près…. This 107 x 107 cm acrylic on canvas continues the exploration of how an image might appear or disappear through the layering of color. Each piece functions as a record of a specific moment of application, where the gesture and the pigment remain visible to the viewer.